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They do not fit any of the characteristics of the Happiest Man in America, expect maybe the height.

More stats have come out of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Someone at the New York Times (who must have spent a lot of time studying the data — I would love to do that! ) figured out who would statistically be the happiest man in America, and then set out to find him. (This seems much more fun than finding the most Average American.)

According to the Index, the happiest man in America would be the following: “a tall, Asian-American, observant Jew who is at least 65 and married, has children, lives in Hawaii, runs his own business and has a household income of more than $120,000 a year”. You might think it be a bit difficult to find someone with all of those qualities, but find him they did.

Introducing Alvin Wong, also known as The Happiest Man in America. Please note that he lives in Hawaii (land of pineapple), not Wyoming.

Also, the Times has an infographic about the happiest groups of people. Check it out here.

Like this:

National Geographic has just launched a year long series on the study of the world’s current population. It starts off with this video (and assorted interactive statistics on the world’s most average person, based on demographic data. (Spoiler alert, he’s a 28 year old Han Chinese man.) It’s a pretty interest video and the stats are definitely worth playing with. (For example, I learned that the average man in Peru is 5’4 1/2″. My sisters and I would do well there.)

While this series it’s thought provoking, it’s not all that original. It reminds me a lot of the book The Average American that I read a few years back. But, to my to knowledge, NatGeo’s not actually setting out to track down and meet the world’s most statically average person, as the author of that book was. I would highly recommend The Average American. It’s good if you’re interested in the reality of who/what America is compared to the view that we get from the media, government, etc. Not quite as fun as 100% American (my favorite stat’s book of all time — yes, I have a favorite stats book), but I think that that’s been out of print since soon after I was born.))

NatGeo’s stats about average people are interesting, but they’re probably not as fun as OKCupid’s.

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